


Leaving

by orphan_account



Category: Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
Genre: Gen, Post-Game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 19:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1658984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adelle leaves for the right reasons.  Hopefully.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Leaving

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BatchSan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BatchSan/gifts).



Adelle leans against the edge of the cockpit doorway and watches their takeoff, feels the ship thrumming beneath her feet and between her shoulders.  Vaan lets out a laugh, pure and happy, and Adelle tries not to watch Penelo rest a hand over one of his as he gradually shifts a lever backward.  The airship’s nose rises relative to its tail, and then they’re airborne and soaring out of the hangar in Moorabella.  For a few moments, the cockpit glass frames a picture of Adelle’s homeland at dawn; then, the ship angles even higher, and all she can see is sky and cloud cover.  

It’s not like she’s never left this place before; Adelle has spent most of the last year hopping between Loar and western Ordalia two or three times a month.  But she knows that she likely won’t be returning for a long while.  She feels something like panic trying to catch her heart in a vise, so she pastes on a smile and hums some bar ditty, one that she remembers Cid mangling, drunk and laughing, while Luso laughed with him and Adelle nursed her own drink and pretended that she didn’t know either of them.  That makes her smile for real, lets her breathe again.  

Still, her reaction makes sense.  When she thinks about it, her homeland was the one constant in her life, once her family was gone and she was too set on being alone to try and find a new one.  It makes sense that she would tense up a bit at the knowledge that she is leaving this place -- her place -- behind.  When she rationalizes it like that, it makes things a little easier.  

Vaan is looking at her expectantly.  He probably wants a compliment on his piloting skills.  “The regular airship from Fluorgis to Goug lifts off a lot smoother than that,” she says, shooting a grin at Penelo, who rolls her eyes and spins in her chair to watch Vaan’s reaction.  

“Well, sor-ry for learning to fly from one of the best, and not some straightlaced, overpaid instructor.”  Vaan huffs.

“Balthier’s laces are pretty straight, Vaan,” Penelo points out cheerfully, and then they’re bickering.  Adelle watches them for a few moments, smiling, then shifts her gaze to the cockpit window again.  For a while longer, it’s filled with the sky at sunrise -- clouds streaked with golds and oranges and reds -- but soon enough, Vaan shifts that lever forward a bit and the airship levels out.  This high up, she can see Loar’s northeastern coast from only a few miles east of Moorabella, and just barely glimpse the shores of Zellea.  From here, the world seems small.

They have to be two or three miles over the city by now.  For all that she and Cid have been a continent apart at times -- the clan keeps busy, and not all their work requires a united front -- those miles feel like a distance between worlds.  She knows it’s silly, but still feels as though he is as far away as Luso, now.

It was him who had urged her to go with the sky pirates when they announced their plans to leave the clan and return to their own homeland.  “It will do you good,” he had said, speaking more solemnly than was his habit.  “You haven’t really been yourself, these past few months, and not only because the boy’s been gone.  You’re itching to leave for the wrong reasons, and trying hard not to scratch said itch, but I think getting away from all this for a good while will be good for you.”

It had taken Adelle some time, but she understands, now.  There is a difference between outright losing the people she loves, and just being apart from them, just as there is one between leaving without cutting ties and outright bolting.  She knows, even as the airship’s engine roars and the distance between her and Clan Gully grows, that she will see Cid and the others again.  This isn’t for forever.  

“Hey, Adelle, do you want me to show you how this thing runs?” Penelo asks.  There’s a knowing quality in her eyes, something that says, I know what it feels like to leave; want a distraction? 

Adelle decides that she does, so after a nod from her, there’s a shuffling of seats that leads to Vaan sitting in Penelo’s chair, Adelle in his, and Penelo leaning over her shoulder to show her what dials mean what and which switches will send the airship hurtling toward the earth if she messes with them.  This swiftly leads to Penelo manually moving Adelle’s hands from place to place, which is pretty clearly meant to provoke the drawn-out jealous sighs that Vaan starts making, but which also leads to Penelo’s breaths tickling Adelle’s neck, which is pretty clearly meant to get Adelle flustered, or hot, or both.  

“So what button makes us go faster,” she finally says, if only because Penelo’s getting a little handsy and Vaan’s face has gone apple red.  “And will pushing it kill us all, or?”  

It’s Vaan who leaps up to point out a big black dial to the right of the lever he’d been fondling during their takeoff.  “Just ease it to the right a few notches and we’ll be good.  Speeding up past that gets the engine too hot; only courier airships are built to go much faster than that without, y’know, bursting into flames or whatever else.”  

So, Adelle does, and with a bit of an initial lurch, they start going faster, and by enough of a margin that she can actually tell by the way something shifts in her belly.  

As the clouds race by and she begins to be able to see hints of Fluorgis’s coastline on the horizon, Adelle feels herself relaxing.  Even if she’s leaving most of her newly found family behind, she still has a piece of it with her, she understands.  It’s a comfort, even if Penelo confuses her and Vaan can’t decide if he wants to be an annoyance or a friend.  The anxiety she associates with losing people isn’t going anywhere, but knowing that Cid and the others are waiting for her eventual return helps, just as having these two with her does.  

She looks forward, and tries not to worry too hard about what she’s leaving behind.  


End file.
